Retro tent- cool or not cool

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greatbear

Full Member
Apr 8, 2013
2,147
0
rotherham
its the eurohike meadow floral teepee 10 man sold by millets and was £300 its never been out the bag since I got it home. I was going to advertise it for sale but it weighs 10 kilos the postage would be staggering. I bought it whilst having a flower power moment lol but there is only me and the mrs don't know what I was thinking.
ive had it since march this year I suppose it would be great to use as a base for bushy education days but I cant see it getting used at all be me which really is a shame cos its a superb tent but hey ho
 

Terry.m.

Forager
Dec 2, 2014
214
26
Kent
what do u think about the Wynnchester Adventure bag <? I like their stuff.
I have a back pack and Swiss blankett>
 

Countryman

Native
Jun 26, 2013
1,652
74
North Dorset
I love it Terry. I think you will find a write up of my first night in it last summer on the site if you search.

Since then I had a neighbour turn a couple of spreader bars to use it as a hammock and found some nylon rope at a chandlers that looks like hemp to rig it up and funnily enough last night I actually put it all together in readiness for trying it as a hammock first time at Bushmoot next week.

It's certainly not a piece of hiking equipment but for expedition by vehicle, boat or somewhere you can just lug it like a fixed base camp or Bushmoot it's ideal. You can lay by a fire an the canvas will handle any little sparks. You can lay out and look up at the stars then throw over the top and cocoon yourself.

Quality is excellent. I did though upgrade the webbing straps to a nice set of bridle leather bedroll straps I found on line.

Really expect this to last a lifetime.


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Countryman

Native
Jun 26, 2013
1,652
74
North Dorset
I can't tell you how much I want the Baker Tent but at that price point I'd struggle to justify it with my limited usage.

Again a great piece of expedition vehicle kit.

I met the Wynnchester owner at Wilderness Gathering last year. Really nice bloke, knows his kit and was really accommodating.

I own some of their Gaiters too. All of their kit is superb in my opinion and made with a nod to a bygone era of quality.


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xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Had one nearly identical. It was a blacks tent with flowery brown and orange curtains with matching inner. It was painted for larping in fetching elvish knotwork with the tent that taste forgot painted above the door. It was nicknamed the babs tent from carry on camping.

The tent was at least 30 years old when we got it, and in past 15 years it has survived weather that floored tent tipees, ripped up markees, chickened out hammock monkey's, and it has out lived two modern family carbon fibre pole tents. You have a tent that if the fabric is in good nick will survive armegeddon. Sod what you look like. You have a tent that will probably out perform most modern tents.
 
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rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
24
69
south wales
When you look back at the Himalayan expeditions from the seventies through the eighties, base camps were awash with these types of tents which goes to show than when pitched right they can take some jip off the weather.
 

Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
12,807
1,533
51
Wiltshire
Yes, pitch them right.

My frame tent blew over and I had to dry everything out and get the poles straightened.

and buy guys for it. guys are important.
 

Countryman

Native
Jun 26, 2013
1,652
74
North Dorset
Well I am a convert.

Retrotent took all the bad weather thrown at it. It was cosy and warm and the cream cotton inner had a touch of the Arabian nights to the sleeping area. The full standing headroom made it the obvious place to change. The orange front casts a warming light internally and nothing about the colour scheme affects your eyes as you exit the tent.

Wife loved it!

I'm going to sort out a groundsheet for the living area but we will use it again, shamelessly.

Moreover I would thoroughly recommend this type of tent for the kind of base camp tentage we do at the Moot.








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Wayland

Hárbarðr
I seem to recall that when BCUK held a Spring Moot that was hit by very bad weather. Fiona's tent like that was one of the only ones not blown down.

Tough things frame tents if they are set up right. That's one of the reasons the military use them.
 
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Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
12,807
1,533
51
Wiltshire
Mine leaked like a sieve and I do not enjoy putting the frame together inside the tent.

Still, £5 for some nice canvas and a thick groundsheet...
 

brambles

Settler
Apr 26, 2012
771
71
Aberdeenshire
My take on items like these is that it is a nice thing to be able to look at pictures of them and bask in the nostalgic glow of childhood family camping, but that there is a reason we now have sylnylon, taped seams, shockcorded alloy poles and geodesic tent designs and that reason is that the tents of our youth were almost without exception, terrible, terrible things. Heavy,smelly, fragile, leaky, too small or spinnaker sail size and wind catching ability, made of materials not designed for the purpose and prone to rotting, bending and vanishing into other dimensions when most needed.
 

Countryman

Native
Jun 26, 2013
1,652
74
North Dorset
I am a convert to canvas.

I have to say many of the changes are to reduce weight, take cost out of the build and materials. Yes nylon dries faster but .......


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Jul 30, 2012
3,570
224
westmidlands
My take on items like these is that it is a nice thing to be able to look at pictures of them and bask in the nostalgic glow of childhood family camping, but that there is a reason we now have sylnylon, taped seams, shockcorded alloy poles and geodesic tent designs and that reason is that the tents of our youth were almost without exception, terrible, terrible things. Heavy,smelly, fragile, leaky, too small or spinnaker sail size and wind catching ability, made of materials not designed for the purpose and prone to rotting, bending and vanishing into other dimensions when most needed.

I don't think you can say fragile, or small. The modern premium tents with high price tags have steel angled poles. With the addition of crosbeams they would have exact copies of the old frames. As I said before, stong stable and roomy, if you made a nylon tent for old steel poles, you would have the light strong tent for peanuts, providing you have the set up to make it.

http://gooutdoors.co.uk/outwell-montana-6p-family-tent-p261526

The fiberglass canes are useless, they shake in the wind, snap, even the old tipi or aframeswhere ridged.
 

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